BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 93 



pers, deep and narrow, the capture in gill-nets might be facilitated by 

 having the nets taken up a trifle more in the hanging. The 7 aud 8 inch 

 mesh cod gill-nets with which the Albatross is provided would, per- 

 haps, be rather small for snappers, aud I think two nets of the proper 

 size mesh should be procured. They are now using in Gloucester a su- 

 perior kind of twine, which, I am told, makes a more durable kind of 

 net.'" 



Where and how the red snapper is caught. — In a recent cir- 

 cular Warren & Co., of Pensacola, Fla., say that this fish is one of the 

 most common in the Gulf of Mexico. It is gorgeously colored, very 

 graceful in all its movements, and unusually wary and capricious. In 

 weight it ranges from 2 to 35 pounds, averaging 7 pounds. Its home 

 is in the strictly salt waters of the gulf, a short distance from the coast. 

 There it lives on the bottom at a depth of GO to 240 feet. The ocean 

 floor off Florida declines greatly at first, for a distance of from 30 to 50 

 miles from the shore, to a depth of 300 feet, then very abruptly descends 

 to a depth of GOO feet, beyond which the slope is more gradual to a depth 

 of about 12,000 feet. The first slope is a sandy one ; the second is 

 sandy, rocky and muddy, while the third is wholly muddy. The sur- 

 face of the second, with its uneven rocks, afford homes and comparative 

 security for all kinds of small marine animals, such as crabs, barnacles, 

 corals, &c. These attract myriads of small fish, which are preyed upon 

 in turn by larger, and so on upward. 



The red snapper is most prominent in these communities. It is one of 

 the largest and most active species. Its life is spent about the patches 

 of rocks, swimming about 6 feet from the bottom among tall branchiug 

 corals and waving grasses, forever on the alert to dash upon some 

 smaller fish. Its whole appearance suggests craftiness, smartness, and 

 conceit. Ordinarily it has about fifty species of beautifully delicate 

 fishes to select its food from, and it seems to show considerable judg- 

 ment in the selectiou. Among these are rare fishes that live only about 

 the coral reefs of warm seas. Even that most celebrated little fish of 

 the Komans — the red mullet — that was so highly esteemed by the epi- 

 curean emperors, furnishes an occasional meal for the red snapper. In 

 consequence of living upon food of this character, the flesh of the red 

 snapper is peculiarly firm and sweet, being disposed in regular layers 

 that make it especially desirable for serving at the table. 



The red snapper is caught altogether with hook and line. Vessels 

 carrying G or 8 men go to sea prepared with all appliances for capture 

 and preservation, and are about one week in securing what is termed a 

 load. They go from home as far as 250 miles, being then about 50 miles 

 from land. The places where the fish live are found by sounding-lines 

 that indicate the depth knowu to the fisherman, and that have baited 

 hooks attached which are quite sure to get a victim if there are fish 

 near by and they are disposed to bite. The vessels are anchored over 

 the spot or allowed to drift across it, while the fishermen ply their lines 



